Athletic shoe



F. E. GABNES ATHLETIC SHOE Filed. Nov. 11, 1931 7" INYENTOR. fl'dfi]; E 62711735 wMa MV.

ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 22, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application November 11, 1931 Serial No. 574,304

2 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in athletic shoes and particularly to'that type of shoe adapted for use by baseball players.

In this type of shoe as heretofore constructed,

ii the arch has been made extremely flexible and as a result there being no support for the players arch, after continued wear of the type of shoe now being used, the player's arch tends to fall thereby materially handicapping him in his activities and seriously shortening his playing life.

It is one of the objects of my invention to provide a baseball shoe wherein provision is made for the proper support of the arch of the shoe without destroying the flexibility of the shoe and without afiecting the pliability of the shoe at the ball or the point where it is desired that the shoe should bend when the player is on his toes.

Another object of my invention is to provide a shoe having cleats which will not accumulate mud or dirt between them and which may be, if desired, removed for the purpose of renewal, repair etc.

For the purpose of disclosing my invention I have illustrated an embodiment of my shoe in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a bottom plan of a shoe embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the sole of the shoe;

Fig. 4 is a plan of the heel plate' and arch support;

Fig. 5 is a plan of the toe plate;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of a shoe embodying my invention on line 6-6 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of a removable to cleat.

In the structure illustrated the upper 1 of the shoe is of the usual construction now used in shoes of this type. This upper 1,: together with the welt 2, which extends entirely around the shoe is secured to an inner sole 3, which inner sole as shown extends the full length of the shoe covering the instep as well as the ball and heel of the shoe. To the welt 2 I secure an outer sole 4 which like the inner sole extends the full length of the shoe covering the arch and tending to stiffen the same. However, this outer sole is not so thick as to prevent convenient bending when the player rises on his toes and due to the construction of the shoe the bending will take place on the ball of the shoe. The

toe portion of the sole of the shoe, comprising the outer and inner soles, is rocked or inclined upwardly from in front of the ball forward as shown in the drawing to give a rocker effect to the front end of the sole. At the same time the upper is shortened between the end of the toe and the'front end of the laced portion to take up any excess material in the upper, occasioned by the upward rocking of the sole. As

a result of this construction a rocker effect is produced at the front portion of the sole. Interposed between the inner sole and the outer sole,

at the toe, is a metal toe plate 5 which is formed of comparatively thin material and in general may be said to be of a diamond shape although slightly distorted to conform to the shape of the toe. Preferably this plate is cut out as at 6 for the purpose of lightness. This plate has thrown up from the surface thereof pairs 7 of internally threaded lugs which extend into, but not completely through the outer sole 4.

Interposed between the heel lift 8 and the outer sole 4 is a substantially diamond shaped metal heel plate 9 cut out as at 10 for lightness and provided with a series of pairs of internally threaded upwardly extending lugs 12, which lugs like the lugs 7 extend almost but not completely through the outer sole. Extending forwardly from the heel plate 9 and preferably made integral therewith, is' an arch plate 13 which is provided at its forward end with a widened T shaped portion 14, and this plate extends over the arch and to a point approximately at the bending point of the ball whereby, in addition to the stiffness provided by the outer sole at the arch, additional stiffness is given to the arch. The plate is properly curved to conform to the curvature of the arch.

The cleats each comprises a'bottom oval plate 15 from which vertically extends the cleats proper 16, which may be sharpened as at 1'? at their outer edge. The cleat plates 15 are provided with screw openings 18 by which the plates may be secured to the lugs 7 or 12 to hold the cleats in position. At the toe it will be noted that the extreme forward cleat is secured in position with the width of the cleat extending transversely across the toe. The rear toe cleats are secured in such a position that they are diagonally disposed and this positioning of the cleats is accomplished by the disposal of the lugs 7 in the toe plate 5. The heel cleats are secured in substantially the same position, the rear cleat extending transversely and the two forward cleats diverging, although the angle of divergence is not quite as great as that of the toe cleats. Due to the fact that the cleat plates 15 may be made comparatively thin, the surface of the sole of the shoe is relatively smooth thereby preventing pockets for the accumulation of mud or wet dirt between the cleats. Furthermore, any one or all of the cleats may be removed for the purpose of repair or renewal.

I claim the following: 1. A base ball player's shoe comprising an upper, and an inner sole and an outer sole secured to said upper and both extending the full length of the shoe and across the arch, the front portion of said sole being curved upwardly from in front of the ball of the shoe and the top of the upper of the shoe being shortened from the toe back to the laced portion, a stiffener plate secured between the outer and inner soles in said uptur ned portion and having its rear end stopping in front of the ball of the shoe, a stiffener plate secured between the inner and outer sole and extending from a point behind the ball of the shoe across the arch to the heel, cleats secured to the toe portion of the sole by means engaging said stiffener plate, and cleats secured to the heel of the shoe.

2. A base ball player's shoe comprising an upper, antinner and outer sole secured to said upper and both .extending the full length of the shoe and acrossthe arch, the front portion of said ,sole being curved upwardly beyond the ball and the top of the upp being shortened from the toe to the lacing point, a stiffener plate secured between the outer and inner soles in said up-curved portion and having its rear end stopping in front of the ball of the shoe, a one-piece stiffener plate extending from the rear of the heel forward and across the arch to a point behind the ball of the shoe, cleats secured to the toe portion of the shoe by means engaging the stiffener plate in the front of the shoe and cleats secured to the heel of the shoe by means engaging said heel portion of the rear plate.

7 FRANK E. GAINES. 

